Introduction
  Research approach
  General documentation theory
  Current documentation strategies for installations
  >Research results

Video documentation of installations

Requirements for video documentation of installations

Conclusion

Glossary

Literature

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Introduction – Research results

Various documentation strategies are being used for (contemporary) works of art:
— Describing the documents as bibliographical source (‘bibliographical approach’)
— Describing the physical elements (‘traditional preservation approach’)
— Describing the work in a media independent way (‘Variable Media Approach’)

As for video documentation of installation art, we see that:
— Describing documents and documentation of physical elements may be important references for questions regarding future re-installation, but such descriptions may lack a real detailed observation needed for the preservation and re-installation of installations.
— For this purpose, video documentation can be crucial (next to textual documentation), because it includes pictorial i.e. visual documentation and sound.
— The literature research further showed a need for the participation of the artist and a profound documentation of the history of the installation (past presentations), preferably structured in a database system that also includes other kinds of documentation, check lists, and models. The main challenge of documenting installation works of art is to find ways to describe the work both in detail as well as in a broad sense so as not to miss unforeseen issues.